A drunk dropout, a lonely commissar, and the most passive-aggressive father-figure friendship in Russian cinema history.
Ignat began to drink, for which he was expelled from the Institute. He returns to his native County town, where there is nothing to do, all die of boredom. There is only one unmarried man — a local military Commissar. Ignat once annoy him, and the military Commissar promised to send him to the army. First Ignat runs from the military Commissar, and then suddenly they struck up a friendship, the military Commissar becomes a guy instead of his father, whom Ignat did not have... Then Ignat decides to go to the army, because he has absolutely nothing to do, but at the last moment he becomes afraid, and he goes to recover to the Institute…
Acting
Tribuntsev's commissar: terrifying then weirdly tender.
Writing
Dialogue that does absolutely nothing and everything.
Director
Elena Bichkova
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Post-Soviet 'dvornik cinema'—films about young men dodging military service and purpose, reflecting 1990s-2000s Russian male anxiety.
Director Elena Bichkova largely worked in television; this rare theatrical feature captures a specific moment of regional Russian indie comedy before streaming homogenized everything.
RU
